FlySafair booking debacle

[Kirsten Minnaar]

FlySafair booking debacle

South Africa's biggest airline is facing backlash for overbooking flights after leaving customers with tickets stranded.

 

[RedViking]

NotFair !

 

[Zellephant]

Oh please. It’s a standard practice for as long as airlines have existed. Why is this suddenly newsworthy now. It also makes perfect sense why they do it, considering how tight the margins in aviation are, and the amount of historical data they have to base the level of overbooking on.

The person in the article suggesting paying extra for a specific seat allocation to guarantee not being bumped is also blowing hot air. Just do your online check-in as soon as it opens 36-24 hours prior to the flight, and you also won’t be bumped. It’s the moegoes who don’t check in in advance that get bumped. I have lost track of the number of times I have been bumped up to business class because of doing exactly that.

 

[Kosmik]

Oh please. It’s a standard practice for as long as airlines have existed. Why is this suddenly newsworthy now. It also makes perfect sense why they do it, considering how tight the margins in aviation are, and the amount of historical data they have to base the level of overbooking on.

The person in the article suggesting paying extra for a specific seat allocation to guarantee not being bumped is also blowing hot air. Just do your online check-in as soon as it opens 36-24 hours prior to the flight, and you also won’t be bumped. It’s the moegoes who don’t check in in advance that get bumped. I have lost track of the number of times I have been bumped up to business class because of doing exactly that.

Arguably can't say I ever had this issue domestically and I've flown a lot and repeatedly. Delayed flights etc. sure where seats were re-shuffled.

However I am also going to disagree on this one. There should be no risk to the airline with booking if cancellation fees are applied against the person. So the only reason to allow over booking, is to actually milk the same seats multiple times as a cash buffer or force people to use alternate time flights.

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

this is soooo yesterday ...

Airlines in South Africa aren't breaking the law by overbooking flights

Bad news about overbooked flights in South Africa Airlines in South Africa aren't breaking the law by overbooking flights, even though such scenarios can leave passengers stranded and facing serious financial consequences. FlySafair reportedly overbooked a flight over the past weekend, leaving...

mybroadband.co.za

 

[A3@MBB]

Flysafair being under the microscope and everything will be blown out of proportion to fit the current narrative.

 

[neoprema]

Arguably can't say I ever had this issue domestically and I've flown a lot and repeatedly. Delayed flights etc. sure where seats were re-shuffled.

However I am also going to disagree on this one. There should be no risk to the airline with booking if cancellation fees are applied against the person. So the only reason to allow over booking, is to actually milk the same seats multiple times as a cash buffer or force people to use alternate time flights.

Lol people do not understand the airline industry. We keep thinking of one flight, one issue.

you have thousands and thousands of flights, with millions and millions of passengers per year. Statistically, a number of them will not pitch and its the job of the Revenue Management Systems, and related staff for churn etc to calculate how best the airline minimizes losses. And one of those ways is through overallocation of seats. Literally 95% of the time its working fine, as its based on real-world numbers. Sometimes though its wrong, and a passenger is affected in which case the airline must compensate accordingly.

Hotels do something similar, conference venues etc - its a fine art to maximize profit through knowin your churn, your rate of no-shows/cancellations, and how to find a balance between them.

 

[Kosmik]

Lol people do not understand the airline industry. We keep thinking of one flight, one issue.

you have thousands and thousands of flights, with millions and millions of passengers per year. Statistically, a number of them will not pitch and its the job of the Revenue Management Systems, and related staff for churn etc to calculate how best the airline minimizes losses. And one of those ways is through overallocation of seats. Literally 95% of the time its working fine, as its based on real-world numbers. Sometimes though its wrong, and a passenger is affected in which case the airline must compensate accordingly.

Hotels do something similar, conference venues etc - its a fine art to maximize profit through knowin your churn, your rate of no-shows/cancellations, and how to find a balance between them.

Explain loss if cancellation fees are applied?

 

[airborne]

Lol people do not understand the airline industry. We keep thinking of one flight, one issue.

you have thousands and thousands of flights, with millions and millions of passengers per year. Statistically, a number of them will not pitch and its the job of the Revenue Management Systems, and related staff for churn etc to calculate how best the airline minimizes losses. And one of those ways is through overallocation of seats. Literally 95% of the time its working fine, as its based on real-world numbers. Sometimes though its wrong, and a passenger is affected in which case the airline must compensate accordingly.

Hotels do something similar, conference venues etc - its a fine art to maximize profit through knowin your churn, your rate of no-shows/cancellations, and how to find a balance between them.

How are passengers in South Africa compensated if they are knocked from a flight because it was overbooked?

 

[Zellephant]

Explain loss if cancellation fees are applied?

This has nothing to do with cancellation fees.

Some flights are run at a complete loss, because of underbooking at a specific timeslot on that route or whatever other reasons. Those are the losses they need to make up on other flights, by doing exactly as you say, milking some seats by booking them out twice. They make these decisions based on very detailed statistics collected over long time frames. Most of the time, it all works out, because the statistically correct number of people don’t show up for the flight, so the “overbooked” passengers all get seats. But sometimes it doesn’t, and then they have to bump you to a later “underbooked” flight and give you a few bucks worth of walking around money to keep you entertained while you wait…. Or free meals, or a hotel room etc

 

[Kosmik]

This has nothing to do with cancellation fees.

Some flights are run at a complete loss, because of underbooking at a specific timeslot on that route or whatever other reasons. Those are the losses they need to make up on other flights, by doing exactly as you say, milking some seats by booking them out twice. They make these decisions based on very detailed statistics collected over long time frames. Most of the time, it all works out, because the statistically correct number of people don’t show up for the flight, so the “overbooked” passengers all get seats. But sometimes it doesn’t, and then they have to bump you to a later “underbooked” flight and give you a few bucks worth of walking around money to keep you entertained while you wait…. Or free meals, or a hotel room etc

Yes but that is forced subsidation of other flights. Rather offer an alternative airfare then like a evening or afternoon ticket with a bracket of flights that it can be used for and knowing its not fixed. Overbooking a flight has NOTHING to do with the efficiency of THAT flight.